Jewish schoolbus firebombed in eastern France
By Reuters
01/20/04
STRASBOURG - A van used as a schoolbus by a Jewish school in Strasbourg has been firebombed in what a community leader has called an apparent anti-Semitic attack, local police said on Tuesday.
The van was attacked on Monday before dawn, 24 hours after unidentified assailants pelted a nearby synagogue with stones during the night, they said. There was no sign who was behind the two incidents.
A local Jewish leader linked the two attacks to marches on Saturday protesting against a planned ban on Islamic veils in school led by an anti-Zionist Muslim leader from Strasbourg.
"What I notice in both cases is the context and the timing in connection with last Saturday's protest where violently anti-Semitic speeches were given," said Pierre Levy, regional representative of the CRIF umbrella group of French Jewish organizations.
Jewish groups say attacks on Jewish property have been rare in Strasbourg but anti-Semitic insults are common.
The Jewish human rights group Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Paris daily Le Monde on Monday both denounced Mohamed Latreche, organizer of the pro-headscarf protests, for a fiery speech he gave at the Paris demonstration. In his speech, Latreche denounced Jews and assailed Zionism as apartheid.